Thursday, 24 May 2012

European Space Agency

The European Space Agency (ESA), an intergovernmental organization
that has 18 member states, manages the space exploration and research of
European countries. The members of ESA are Austria, Belgium, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy,
Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden,
Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, while the headquarter is located in
Paris. Some other countries in and around Europe have also taken part,
cooperated, and signed a contract with ESA, they are Canada, Hungary,
Romania, Poland, Estonia, and Slovenia.
A "greater number of members" has given an advantage to this agency
in terms of financing and human resources, despite the fact that the
citizens pay four times lesser for space activities and programs than
what is paid by US citizens. The annual budget of European space agency
stood at €3.6 billion for the year 2009, which was contributed by each
member state in accordance with the amount of gross national product
(GNP). Each member stands the same voice on the Council. ESA also
conducts investments in each member state through industrial contracts.
The agency employs around 2,000 staff from all the member states in the
big body. Most of their programs are focused more on the exploration of
Earth and space, and the development of satellites and technology for
the benefits of their industries. Besides a single headquarter, there
are some sites with different responsibilities that are spread over
various European countries. It also has some liaison offices. For
example, there is ESRIN as the centre for earth observation programs and
ESTEC as the centre for research and technology.
The primary rocket of ESA is the Ariane 5, but it has been replaced
by Ariane 4 since the year 1997 due to ongoing maintenance procedures.
There are Ariane 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5. The last one was the heaviest in
specification and has flown 15 times to the space since 2002. ESA also
has Soyuz-2 which is usable through a joint venture costing €340 million
with the Russian Federal Space Agency or Roskosmos. The parts of
Soyuz-2 were manufactured and sent to ESA in early 2009 to be assembled
later. The joint venture is beneficial for both parties for some
reasons. First, ESA does not have to spend for the development cost if
it would build its own spacecraft. Second, the Soyuz-2 is a powerful
spacecraft with excellent record, so ESA already gets the best they can
afford to complete the available spacecrafts. Third, Russia benefits
from the economies of scale since they have produced many spacecrafts of
similar parts and specification before. And the last one, Russia gains
access to launch their spacecrafts at Kourou, which is close to the
equator and will enable them to double the payload. For small payload
launcher; ESA has 'Vega', a launcher that is modified directly from
Ariane 5 EAP and plans the first launch in 2009. It is Italy that
contributed the most for this project.
For the International Space Station (ISS), there are 10 out of the
18 members of ESA that participate. Since the establishment in 1975 till
now, about forty projects have been launched by ESA so far and many are
on target of next exploration.